This invention relates generally to exercise equipment, and more particularly, to a novel exercise apparatus for use during bench press exercising. The novel bench press apparatus of the invention allows a person to complete a bench press exercise in safety without the need of a spotter.
When bench pressing, a person lies on his back on a bench with his feet on the floor and raises and lowers over his chest a barbell which consists of a bar having on its ends balanced changeable weights which may provide a combined weight of several hundred pounds. At the end of the exercise, the person must elevate the barbell one last time to place it on support members or pegs provided on a squat rack or frame extending vertically perpendicularly with respect to the bench.
A person often over-extends himself during the exercise and is unable to raise the barbell a final time to place it on the support pegs. For this reason, the exercise is considered dangerous and it is recommended that it be performed only in the presence of a nearby spotter who may quickly come to the assistance of the person exercising to help him place the barbell on the support pegs. Otherwise, the barbell may settle or fall on the chest of the person and cause serious injury to the person.
While it is prudent for a person to perform the bench press exercise only in the presence of a spotter, persons often become careless and bench press without a spotter and thereby subject themselves to the risk of serious injury. The prior art has recognized this problem and has proposed several safety devices intended to enable a person to perform the bench press exercise in the absence of a spotter. Typical proposals are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,249,726 and 4,807,875. These units, however, employ rather complex mechanisms for raising and lowering the barbell on the upright vertical frame when necessary, and to applicants' knowledge none of these has become commercially available with bench press equipment.